Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:24:18.610Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The acquisition of conditionals in American Sign Language: Grammaticized facial expressions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Judy Snitzer Reilly ,
Marina Mcintire  and
Ursula Bellugi
Judy Snitzer Reilly*
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
Marina Mcintire
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
Ursula Bellugi
Affiliation:
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
*
Judy S. Reilly, Department of Psychology-PART, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182–0551
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An unusual facet of American Sign Language (ASL) is its use of grammaticized facial expression. In this study, we examine the acquisition of conditional sentences in ASL by 14 deaf children (ages 3;3–8;4) of deaf parents. Conditional sentences were chosen because they entail the use of both manual signs and grammaticized non-manual facial expressions. The results indicate that the children first acquire manual conditional signs, e.g., SUPPOSE, before they use the obligatory grammaticized conditional facial expression. Moreover, the children acquire the constellation of obligatory non-manual behaviors component by component, rather than holistically.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 369 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baker, C., & Cokely, D. (1980). American Sign Language: A teacher's resource text on grammar and culture. Silver Spring, MD: TJ Publishers.Google Scholar
Baker, C, & Padden, C. (1978). Focusing on the nonmanual components of American Sign Language. In Siple, P. (Ed.), Understanding language through sign language research. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Baker-Shenk, C., (1983). A microanalysis of the non-manual components of questions in American Sign Language. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Bellugi, U. (1967). The acquisition of negation. Ph.D. dissertation., Harvard University.Google Scholar
Bellugi, U. (1988). The acquisition of a spatial language. In Kessel, F. (Ed.), The development of language and language researchers: Essays in honor of Roger Brown. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bellugi, U., & Klima, E. (1982). The acquisition of three morphological systems in American Sign Langauge. Papers and Reports in Child Language Development, 21, 1–34.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M. (1986). First steps in acquiring conditionals. In Traugott, E. C. et al. (Eds.), On conditionals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973). A first language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Campos, J., Barrett, K. C, Lamb, M. E., Goldsmith, H. H., & Stenberg, C. (1983). Socioemotional development. In Mussen, P. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. 2, Infancy and development: Psychobiology (ed. Haith, M. & Campos, J.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Comrie, B. (1986). A typology of conditionals. In Traugott, E. et al. (Eds.), On conditionals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coulter, G. (1980). American Sign Language typology. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Ekman, P. (1972). Universals and cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. In Cole, J. K. (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1971. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. (1978). Facial action coding system. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Ekman, P., & Oster, H. (1978). Facial expression of emotion. Ann Arbor Review of Psychology, 30, 527–554.Google Scholar
Izard, C. E. (1971). The face of emotion. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Klima, E., & Bellugi, U. (1979). The signs of language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Liddell, S. (1977). An investigation into the syntactic structure of American Sign Language. PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego. (Published 1980 as American Sign Language syntax. The Hague: Mouton)Google Scholar
Liddell, S. (1978). Nonmanual signals and relative clauses in American Sign Language. In Siple, P., Liddell, S. (Ed.), Understanding language through sign language research. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Liddell, S. (1986). Head thrust in ASL conditional marking. Sign Language Studies, 52, 243–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loew, R. (1981). Learning sign language as a first language: Roles and reference. In Caccamise, F., Garretson, M., & Bellugi, U. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Third National Symposium on Sign Language Research and Teaching. Silver Spring, MD: National Association of the Deaf.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (1978). Processing a first language: The acquisition of morphophonology. Monographs of the Society on Research in Child Development, 43 (1–2, serial number 174).Google Scholar
McLntire, M. L., & Reilly, J. S. (1988). Nonmanual behaviors in L1 and L2 learners of American Sign Language. Sign Language Studies, 61, 351–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLntire, M. L., Reilly, J. S., & Bellugi, U. (1987, July). Hands and faces: Conditionals in American Sign Language. Paper presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Sign Language Research, Lappeenranta, Finland.Google Scholar
Meier, R. (1981). Icons and morphemes: Models of the acquisition of verb agreement in ASL. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, 20, 92–99.Google Scholar
Newport, E. (1984). Some constraints on learning. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, 23, 1–9.Google Scholar
Newport, E. L. (1981). Constraints on structure: Evidence from American Sign Language and language learning. In Collins, W. A. (Ed.), Aspects of the development of competence (Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, Vol. 14). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Newport, E., & Ashbrook, E. (1977). The emergence of semantic relations in American Sign Language. Papers and Reports in Child Language Development, 13, 16–21.Google Scholar
Newport, E., & Meier, R. (1986). Acquisition of American Sign Language. In Slobin, D. (Ed.), The cross-linguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Newport, E. L., & Supalla, T. (1980). The structuring of language: Clues from the acquisition of signed and spoken language. In Bellugi, U. & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (Eds.), Signed and spoken language: Biological constraints on linguistic form (Dahlem Konferenzen). Weinheim: Verlag Chemie.Google Scholar
Oster, H. (1978). Facial expression and affect development. In Lewis, M. & Rosenblum, L., (Eds.), Development of affect. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Peters, A. (1983). The units of language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Petitto, L. (1983). From gesture to symbol: The relationship between form and meaning in the acquisition of personal pronouns in American Sign Language. Papers and Reports in Child Language Development, 22, 100–107.Google Scholar
Petitto, L. (1988). Language and the prelinguistic child. In Kessel, F. (Ed.), The development of language and language researchers. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Reilly, J. S. (1982). The acquisition of conditionals in English. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Reilly, J. S. (1983). What are conditionals for? Papers and Reports in Child Language Development, 22, 1–8.Google Scholar
Reilly, J. S. (1986). The acquisition of temporals and conditionals. In Traugott, E. C. et al. (Eds.), On conditionals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Reilly, J. S., Mclntire, M. L., & Bellugi, U. (1990). Faces: The relationship between language and affect. In Volterra, V. & Erting, C. (Eds.), From gesture to language in hearing and deaf children. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Reilly, J. S., Mclntire, M. L., & Bellugi, U. (in press). Baby face: A new perspective on universals in language acquisition. In Siple, P. (Ed.), Theoretical issues in sign language research: Psychology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Schaffer, H. R. (1977). Early interactive development. In Schaffer, H. R. (Ed.), Studies in mother-child interaction. New York: Academic.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1966). The acquisition of Russian as a native language. In Smith, F. & Miller, G. (Eds.), The genesis of language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1973). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (Eds.), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1982). Universal and particular in the acquisition of language. In Wanner, E. & Gleitman, L. (Eds.), Language acquisition: The state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (Ed.). (1986). The cross-linguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Stern, D. (1977). The first relationship. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Supalla, T. (1982). Structure and acquisition of verbs of motion and location in American Sign Language. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego.Google Scholar
Supalla, T., & Newport, E. L. (1978). How many seats in a chair? The derivation of nouns and verbs in American Sign Language. In Siple, P. (Ed.), Understanding language through sign language research. New York: Academic.Google Scholar